China launches rocket carrying new constellation of satellites

Hydro announces CEO out after two years

Allan Danroth is out as Manitoba Hydro’s president and CEO — a departure that came as a surprise to some observers — just two years after he was hired.

Danroth left for personal reasons, the Crown corporation’s board chair, Jamie Wilson, said Friday, while announcing chief operating officer Hal Turner as interim president and CEO ahead of a national and international search for a replacement.

“Today’s one of those days where you have a lot of mixed emotions,” Turner told reporters at Hydro’s downtown Winnipeg headquarters. “I just want to say on behalf of all the employees in Manitoba Hydro, we very much appreciate Allan’s leadership over the last two years.”

Turner wouldn’t say whether he will apply to be the next permanent CEO.

Winnipeg man among those missing in Nepal flash flood

A Winnipeg man on a pilgrimage in Nepal is among nearly 2,000 people missing after a deadly flash flood devastated a popular tourist region along the Himalayan border earlier this week.

Mohit Kaushik, 49, was travelling with a tour group taking part in the Kailash Manasarovar Yatra, a sacred, days-long pilgrimage to Mount Kailash and Lake Manasarovar in neighbouring Tibet, according to social media posts.

“Our friend and neighbour, Mohit Kaushik, a resident of Winnipeg, Canada, has been out of contact since yesterday while travelling from Timure during his pilgrimage to Kailash Mansarovar,” Swikriti Pokhrel wrote in a social media post. “If you have seen him or find his name on any hospital list, please let us know. Thank you.”

Kaushik has not been heard from since Wednesday, when a glacier collapse in the nearby Himalayas triggered catastrophic flooding and landslides, sending a torrent of ice, rock and debris roughly 100 kilometres downstream.

Manitoba Hydro’s strategy: Deny, deny, deny

Here’s a good story…

A man walks into your office and says, “Have I got a deal for you! I want $3 billion (plus perhaps a bit more) to build you something that you might use three or even four times a year, for maybe 30-60 hours each time. Sign here.”

You might respond… “and I’ve got a lovely bridge for sale…”

That is exactly what Manitoba Hydro wants — $3 billion or more, plus the fossil fuel bonus for peak load events that happen a few times each year. They assure us that the gas turbines will only be used very occasionally. At the same time, they tell us that we are headed for a crisis of energy supply by 2030.

NDP trying to solve health-care problems from every angle — except the one likely to have the biggest impact

Winnipeg’s emergency-room wait times hit a record high in July, according to the latest data released Thursday by the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority.

The 90th-percentile wait for all emergency rooms and urgent-care sites hit a staggering 13.02 hours last month, the longest wait ever recorded since the WRHA began publishing monthly data.

Thirteen hours is not a wait, it’s an endurance test. And it’s getting worse.

The 90th percentile is the point at which nine out of 10 patients experienced a shorter wait and one in 10 waited even longer.

‘Not his best work,’ Kinew says of Trump’s order to rename Lake Ontario

An executive order by U.S. President Donald Trump to rename Lake Ontario as Lake America is “sad,” Premier Wab Kinew says.

Council candidates call out vandalism after campaign signs defaced in Waverley West

A council candidate in Waverley West said she will not be intimidated after 16 of her campaign signs were vandalized this week — some with apparent gang symbols.

Nafiya Naso is the second candidate in the ward whose signs were defaced this month. Jasmine Brar, who is also running for the council seat, had some of her signs broken on Friday along Kenaston Boulevard and signs near Naso’s that were also defaced on Saturday.

Earlier this month, Eaglewood Park in the nearby Prairie Pointe neighbourhood was also vandalized with graffiti that included homophobic slurs, anti-India messages and repeated references to “3LK” — a symbol Naso believes is associated with a gang.

Naso’s signs, located along Waverley Street near Tim Sale Drive and across from École South Pointe School in southwest Winnipeg, were spray-painted with apparent gang signs, crude drawings and other messages, including “loser” and “Ur not winning” written across her name and photograph.